Professor of Business
Dorothy and K.D. Kennedy Chair of Business

Dr. John Bethune earned his Ph. D. in Economics from Florida State University in 1987. He began his career with the faculty at Bellarmine College in Louisville, Ky., and served as Chair of the Economics Department from 1989 until 1996, when he accepted the position of Hendrix Chair of Free Enterprise at the University of Tennessee, Martin. Bethune came to Barton in 2000 and is the Dorothy and K.D. Kennedy Chair of Business and a professor of economics. He is also the director of the BB&T Center for Free Enterprise Education. He earned the Distinguished Research Award from the Academy for Economics and Economics Education in 2000 and 2010, and he has chaired the Economics Panel for the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program for the past three years. He is a Policy Advisor to the Heartland Institute, a Salvatori Fellow with the Heritage Foundation, and a member of the North Carolina Economic Policy Board. He has a variety of publications, including articles and reviews in the Wall Street Journal, American Economist, Southern Economic Journal, Studies in Economic Analysis, Journal of Economic Education, and Long Term View. His current research involves public policy and economic education.